WEST TOWN — During a swimming lesson at a canine aquatic center in West Town, a dog drowned and his owner alleges her family's pet was not aided with CPR that could have saved the dog's life.
"What started as an exciting swimming lesson, ended in a tragedy and a traumatic experience that my family and I will never forget," said Paula Cano, a Maywood resident whose 3-year-old Doberman, Diego, died around 9:15 p.m. on March 31 at Doggy Paddle, 1330 W. Willow St.
Cano said Diego — who had never been in a swimming pool but enjoyed wading in the water at Montrose Beach — initially resisted, and that was her "first red flag" at the start of the lesson in a pool with Diego's "cousin" Piper, a boxer mix, who was with another instructor in the same pool.
"Diego was pulling back and did not want to go in the water. The instructor used force and pulled my dog by the vest into the water," said Cano, who was standing poolside with her husband, brother and sister-in-law.
"My dog was freaking out, I could see it in his eyes, in his body language. He looked terrified. I said it seemed like he wanted no business with the pool and the instructor said, 'This is is perfectly normal behavior,'" Cano said.
After several minutes in the pool, the instructor took Diego out of the water for a short break, Cano said.
"He was again dragged by the top of his vest into the pool. This time, [the instructor] left him in the middle of the pool and Diego tried to fight his way out of the pool and suddenly we see the front of his face under water. I screamed to my husband and the instructor was clueless to what was happening. He grabbed my dog and took him out and put him to the side of the pool," she said.
After he pulled her dog out of the pool, the instructor ran off.
"We thought he was getting help. He came back with two girls, they saw what was going on and they left. And then Diego went into shock. We lost him," she said.
She said she did not see the instructor again until a few minutes later as they were leaving with her lifeless dog, and she glanced back at the pool and saw the instructor hiding behind a pillar and crying.
By the time the owner and her husband brought Diego to the nearest emergency veterinarian, MedVet, at 9:30 p.m., the doctors estimated he had been dead for at least 10 minutes, Cano said.
"We arranged his memorial. We were there at 9:30 p.m. and by 10:15 p.m, we were checking out," Cano said, her voice breaking into tears.
"He was my first dog. My family, we are broken," Cano said.
Named for painter Diego Rivera, the dog was the childless couple's first, and they later added another, Frida, named for painter Frida Kahlo.
On Friday, Doggy Paddle owner Cherie Bielawski told DNAinfo that the instructor involved in Diego's lesson resigned after the incident.
Bielawski said there were no cameras in the room, and she cannot be sure of the events that transpired that night before the emergency.
"Doggy Paddle is installing a multiple camera system in order to provide better visibility and in order to be available for training purposes," Bielawski said.
She issued condolences: "The staff and management of Doggy Paddle are deeply saddened that Diego Cano died in our facility. We are still trying to come to grips with the fact that Diego lost consciousness, expelled blood, stopped breathing, and expired. We grieve for Diego and feel terrible that his family is going through this loss."
Bielawski confirmed that her staff members were not trained in canine first aid or CPR and did not have advanced medical devices and oxygen.
"We do not know if anything would have changed the outcome that night, but we are committed to learn from the events and be better prepared to deal with emergency situations. While canine first aid and CPR is not required for a facility like ours, we are going to provide training in order to have all Doggy Paddle employees certified in canine CPR," Bielawski said.
Cano posted about her experience at Doggy Paddle on her personal Facebook page and said it hurts to know the death of her dog could have been avoided had the staff have been trained to handle an emergency.
"I want every one of their workers to be certified to avoid a tragedy like we had to go through. No one helped us at Doggy Paddle, not a single person. I want them to be professional, to have a safety and crisis plan. I will make sure people know about this incident, so they don't put their family members at risk and dogs are family," Cano said.
Moving forward, Bielawski said laminated emergency treatment cards will be in each pool room and emergency direction cards will be available to provide directions to the closest 24-hour emergency veternarian.
"We have had more than 6,000 dogs visit Doggy Paddle without incident, and yet we do wish we had been better prepared to assist Diego in his hour of need," Bielawski said.
Doggy Paddle opened in November. The aquatic center offers four heated swimming pools and bills itself as "the city's first and only aquatic center for dogs to achieve optimal health and fitness through swimming."
A Yelp page shows mostly positive reviews, with one user calling it "a canine heaven!"
But according to a Feb. 15 review, a Yelp user named Kate L. also cut a lesson short after it appeared her dog was about to drown in a pool, "with only her eyes barely above water."
